


Promises Kept

by kiapurity



Series: Alternative Branching Paths [5]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: F/M, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25094791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiapurity/pseuds/kiapurity
Summary: One devil hunter, a hissing dark knight in a bathtub, a woman, and a kid... and a promise. Originally supposed to be an one-shot but chapters, unfortunately happened.
Relationships: Nero's Mother/Vergil (Devil May Cry)
Series: Alternative Branching Paths [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1438183
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	Promises Kept

Dante was leaning back at his desk, lost in thought about how his life flipped upside down that one goddamn day. It started off just like any other day until Morrison called and said that he was going to drop by a rather unusual request. It was something Dante needed to see in person for himself. He responded with a, “Sure, whatever,” figuring that it was something to do with some demonic artifact. He was a devil hunter, not an academic researcher!

True to his word, Morrison escorted a pair to the office, a mother and a child. Dante couldn’t see the child who kept hiding behind his mother’s skirt but there was something off about the kid. Something oddly familiar that had him absentmindedly reaching for a drawer on his desk where his cut glove was. As he stared at the drawer, he asked himself why he even opened it.

“Ah. I see.” The dark haired woman sighed, sounding obviously disappointed.

“Excuse me?” Dante snapped to attention, mystified. “Just who the hell are you?”

It was the woman’s turn to stammer for a moment because she had to think about her various names. Before she could respond, there was a small voice behind her who pointed out that her name was mom. Dante rolled his eyes.

“If you must call me something, my name is Carina Fortune.”

“And why the delay?”

“Because only your brother knows that name.”

“What.” Dante said, upon seeing a shock of white hair on the kid behind Carina, he repeated the word again out loud.

Things took entirely too long for the puzzle pieces to fall in place and he stared at Morrison slightly open mouthed then back at the woman and her child. There was a distinct sound of car screeching and horns honking as Dante exclaimed in surprise which got the boy to pop out from behind his mother’s skirt to scold him loudly.

“No swearing!”

“Nero.” Carina sighed, halfway facepalming. “This is your uncle, Dante.”

Dante dropped his legs off the desk, approaching the bold boy who seemed to be reconsidering his decision. He knelt in front of the child and quickly started pinching his cheeks making him yowl with anger.

“You’re the cutest kid I’ve ever seen!”

“LETGOLETGOLETGO!” Nero yowled angrily.

Then Dante got uppercut’d in the face thanks to one small set of spectre wings, sending him to the floor. Carina gave a weary sigh before checking Nero over. He was huffing with anger as the wings dissipated away.

“Are you sure he’s really my uncle, mom? I don’t like him!”

“He’s your father’s twin so I’m pretty sure Dante is your uncle.”

“That’s a first.” Morrison remarked. “Dante, the famous devil hunter taken out by a small child.”

“I’m only allowing it this time.” Dante grunted, thankful that he didn’t get stabbed by a sword which was his twin’s favored modus operatus when it came to dealing with an annoying relative.

Morrison bowed and left the building, saying that he had other duties to attend to. Nero went over to one of the couches and flopped on it, exhausted and pouting. Dante pushed himself off the floor, returning to the desk while rubbing his jaw. Shit, that kid had the potential… stronger than he looked. Then he did mental math in his head and paused before being shocked by the answer.

“He’s ten, isn’t he?”

“Yes.” Carina answered flatly. 

“I’m so sorry.”

“What for?”

Anger rumbled in his stomach because thinking about it, it seemed so goddamn unfair that his brother knocked up a woman and left her alone caring for their child all this time. That selfish asshole… if he was still here, Dante would have loved to knock some goddamn sense into him. But, he wasn’t and all that was left was a bitter reminder in the drawer. That his brother chose to stay in hell. Of course, he would escape the consequences for everything that he did.

“That my brother used you.”

“Is that what it looks like to you?” She said, swallowing the bitterness. “I’ve struggled with the same thought myself when he left that day. I didn’t even know then.”

Carina went over the couch, sitting next to her child and ruffled his white hair. It was clear how much the woman loved her child, reminding Dante of another time in a very distant past. All he could see was his mother underneath the apple tree, reading a book while watching her twins play fight. Was that what his brother saw at first?

“So, what excuse did he give you when he left?”

“He said that I was in danger from Mundus if he stayed any longer. Couldn’t come back unless he dealt with that man.”

Of course, it was so like his twin to make such stupid elaborate plans without telling anyone. Dante grumbled to himself, if he had any inkling as to what hell his brother was up to… then he asked himself, would he have stopped his brother or helped him in his revenge?

“Huh. So he told you that much? That guy normally keeps everything under wraps.”

“Bits and pieces. By the time I figured out my condition, I left Fortuna--”

“Hang on a second, you’re from Fortuna? That place that worships my dad as a sort of god figure?”

“...Yes. I thought that religion was bullshit and told your brother as much.” Carina put her hands on Nero’s ears to prevent him from complaining about swearing. He protested quietly but sat still in her lap.

“Damn. How did you not die?”

“I told him if he kept glaring at me that he might as well rip my panties off.”

Dante was absolutely fucking speechless. No wonder why his brother was so easily destroyed. How the hell do you even come up with a comeback to that?

“Anyway, after I left. My surrogate mother and I bounced around cities for a while thanks to the help of a couple. I wasn’t able to carry out my promise of going after your brother after the year was up because I was dealing with my biological father’s family. This is long overdue, I’m afraid. I needed Nero to know that he wasn’t the only one out there and I’m looking for any leads on where his father is.”

There was no easy way for Dante to drop the bombshell on her because he didn’t know how she would react to the news. Shit! Stupid asshole brother, you and your damn pride! Forever stuck cleaning up after him, even years later. Carina let go of Nero’s ears, drawing him into a tight hug.

“Dante? Something bad happened to him, didn’t it? I can feel it through my mark.”

“What mark?”

“There’s a blue rose on mom’s shoulder.” Nero piped up. “Mom gets embarrassed whenever I ask about it. All I know is that it’s a gift from dad.”

Dante was frozen solid for the next five minutes before finally gasping for oxygen from choking with laughter. He wasn’t sure if he could handle any more surprises today. Carina slowly buried her face in her hands out of embarrassment. Poor Nero had no clue and neither one wanted to explain birds and bees… or in this case, humans and devils.

“Er, kid… well. Um.”

What the shit, Vergil. Dante thought to himself. Did that moron even know that marking a human in such a manner would lead to bleeding obvious consequences? No, wait, this was the same idiot who didn’t think his plans through. This was such a weirdly mixed message Dante was dealing with. It started feeling like what he initially assumed might be wrong?

“I’m sorry. I don’t have any good news to tell you, Carina. But if I find something… I’ll let you know, okay?”

“I suppose that’ll have to do for now.” She said, eyes downcast. “I only know that he’s not dead, but so far away.”

Shit, she wasn’t wrong… but if he wasn’t dead, maybe that was a lead Dante could work with.

And that was where he was now, Dante grumbled to himself. Not too long afterwards, a blonde woman showed out of nowhere and threw a motorcycle at his head and issued the invitation to visit Mallet island. (Dante couldn’t remember the exact order, the motorcycle at his head or the invitation.) He knew next to nothing about the island, only that it was owned by some very rich people and had fallen into serious disrepair.

It was not hard to see why the damn thing was left alone for decades considering the rock was haunted by demonic activity which included a giant lava spider, one even bigger bird, several shadow panthers that spiked him on sight (ow), and a lump of nightmare. Also, there was that one random armored asshole that kept showing up only to shriek and flee whenever Dante got irritated enough to throw holy water at the knight.

Speaking of the knight-- Dante felt an oddly strong sense of deja vu from that giant being. It was as if he was fighting with someone familiar, faint echoes from his childhood. The second battle had him questioning things when the amulet dropped behind, forcing him to deal with reality that was seeping in. He was alive, damn it. What the hell did that monster do to his twin?! Here was the lead he needed, now to follow it up and finally, do something about it. But what?

Dante didn’t know how but through an act of impossible miracle, he managed to knock his twin out in their third battle. Tied him up with chains long enough for him to run off and deal with Mundus’ nonsense before sprouting random nonsense himself about filling darkness with light. Finally, he was back at his office and his brother was mostly unconscious in the bathtub which led to the whole situation here and now.

Trish was shocked when Dante insisted on bringing his brother along but it was a matter of great importance. He was not one to break promises even if they seemed so goddamn impossible. The only problem was Carina bringing Nero over on the weekends so they could get to know each other better. The weekends usually ended in pain on Dante’s part and being called a big jerk by his nephew.

Dante asked Trish to babysit Nero so he could check on his twin which annoyed both of them. Nero and Carina didn’t know what to make of Trish even after the convoluted explanation about Mundus making Trish in the image of his mother. Trish loudly insisted on not being called a grandmother and told Nero just to call her “auntie” which seemed to work out well. Carina gave Dante a “What the Hell?” before being admonished by her son for swearing.

Meanwhile, Dante was wrestling with the delicate matter of trying to get the armor off his twin. The damn thing was fused to the flesh from years of slavery under Mundus which left him gray and weakened. If he was healthier and in better shape, it would have been no big deal for Dante just to cut his twin out. It was a good thing Vergil was still unconscious the entire time Dante worked with a power saw to cut the armor pieces off one a time. He kept sending Trish out to buy new blades every time the blade caught on a groove and splintered into pieces into the walls and into Dante himself.

“You know, it would just be easier to beat up a devil and turn him into a saw.” Trish remarked after turning in her nightly supply run. “How the hell do you even run a business like this?”

“Shut up and help me get this piece off.”

Dante was freaking out internally, his twin should have revived by now. The longer he was still under, more Dante wasn’t sure if Vergil was ever going to wake up. It was all he could do to stay calm under pressure to the point he blocked off the bathroom with an Out of Order sign. Nero gave him so much shit for “what kind of idiot leaves a toilet broken”.

“Look, kid, I have a scary monster in the bathtub. It’s the stuff of nightmares which is why I haven’t been able to get a human to fix the toilet.”

“Are you kidding me?! Just give me the plunger and I’ll fix the toilet myself!” The kid was certainly unconcerned about monsters at his age.

“No.” Dante was wary about picking up Nero again because the kid was fast with his extra arms and let Dante know it every single time. “Ask Auntie Trish to get you some ice cream. I’m sure she doesn’t mind spoiling you.”

“Fine, but we really need to talk about the bathroom problems!”

Dante let out a long held sigh of relief. If he figured it out right, tonight was the night when the final pieces of the armor came off. Disposing of them was another matter entirely, so he made Morrison deal with the disposal. (Little did he know, a certain mad scientist would end up getting them and causing problems down the line.)

\--

While Trish was out getting some ice cream for Nero, she should have considered it a hassle but the child was tugging on her heartstrings. She pondered over it, was it the result of her growing a conscience, a heart, or a soul? (All of the above?) The kid was still grumbling over how useless his uncle was with the bathroom.

“Is there really a monster in there?”

“He hissed at me.” Trish answered, truthfully.

It was why she tried to avoid the bathroom as much as possible because sometimes the knight would wake up and hiss at her presence. He was already difficult on Mallet Island in the past which amused Mundus at both of their expense. Rotten father figure, Trish concluded. She was just a tool and it took Dante to make her see that she could be something more. That she had her own agency.

“Nero, you’re being a little hard on your uncle. He helped me out of a bad situation and I’ll always be grateful for that. While Dante has his own faults, he’s a good person.”

“I guess.” He shoved another spoonful of ice cream in his mouth. “He doesn’t talk much to me when mom drops me off. It’s like he doesn’t know what to do with me.”

“Probably because you remind him of your father.”

“Mom says that too. She’s always teasing me about my serious face and my need to protect Kyrie.”

“Oh? Who’s Kyrie?”

Nero immediately turned scarlet red, shoving more ice cream in his mouth, mumbling. Trish strained her ears and a small smile developed on her face. It was clear to her now, the kid already had a crush on his best friend and it was too hard for him to talk about.

“Is that why you try to correct everyone when someone says a bad word?”

“Um… well, I guess. I’ve been trying to be better about swearing around her because she’s the kind of person you can’t say bad things around! She’s even beaten up bullies for making fun of my hair color and ...”

After the boy went quiet, eating the last of his ice cream, Trish considered his words. It was clear that not having his father in his life was bothering him to some extent. Probably why Dante was hell bent on trying to fix his brother. She could sense how deeply worried the Devil Hunter was if his brother was barely responsive.

\--

“So, why the hell is the bathroom out of order, Dante?”

Dante facepalmed at Carina. “How many times do I have to tell people, there’s a monster in there.”

“Since when is Vergil a monster?”

The Devil Hunter gaped at the woman for a good few minutes before blinking and facepalming again. This woman was goddamn scary if she could see through bullshit like that. Carina tilted her head at Dante, pointing to her shoulder.

“It’s been burning everytime I come close to the back room and it took me way longer than normal to figure out why. He’s alive, isn’t he?”

“Uh, yeah, but it’s complicated. He’s kind of … there and not. I didn’t want you and Nero to see him like this. I don’t know if it’s possible.” Dante struggled with the words. “...for him to recover from whatever Mundus did to him.”

“Point me to Mundus and I’ll shoot him.”

“You’re only a human!”

“A cranky human, mind you.” Carina snorted. “Do you need help?”

“I guess I could use the help but it’s not a pretty sight.”

“Please, I banged your brother in his devil trigger form. I can handle it.”

Dante threw his hands up in mock surrender and pushed the door open, watching her reaction carefully. She stood there, silently studying the scene before her as she stepped through the doorway. Then, she dropped to her knees, trying to check the knight’s vitals. He could tell that she was struggling to maintain her composure-- didn’t know if she would break out in tears or go on a murderous rampage. Dante suspected that it was going to be both regardless of what he thought.

“Number one,” Carina began, trying to steady herself. “I see you’ve been removing the armor because of the saw pieces stuck in the walls. What made you think that it was a bloody great idea?”

“Um, probably because I didn’t want to cut any limbs off. Surprised he didn’t even wake up from that...”

Dante trailed off at that thought, still worried that his twin was never going to wake up and all he did was knock the bastard out. Dark thoughts were eating at him, was being away from the island making him worse? Or… was there something he missed? The woman before him was mulling several things over.

She stood back up and started rubbing her shoulder. “Hallway, now.”

Dante followed Carina out in the hallway as she shut the door behind them, quietly facepalming. He tilted his head in confusion as she held a finger up, needing a moment to recompose herself.

“What?”

“He’s pretending to be asleep.” She finally answered. “And here I thought I was going to have to feed him some of my blood to revive him.”

“What.” Dante repeated again, not sure which statement to ask questions about. He finally decided he was more comfortable with the first one, “Why is he even pretending to be asleep?”

“Wounded pride, maybe. Vergil’s a goddamn idiot.” Carina scoffed, arms crossed. “He forgets that I can feel him.”

“She’s not wrong!” Trish piped up.

“Dude, Trish.” Dante said. “Where’s the kid?”

“Sleeping on the couch.”

“Ah-- damn it.” Carina groaned. “...I need to get Nero home if he’s that tired.”

“So you know about…” Trish gestured to the door, getting a flat ‘yes’ in return. “You’re right, he’s pretending to be asleep. If I so much as get near the door, he starts hissing.”

Trish stepped in front of the door in which just about everyone could hear a distinct hissing from the other side. Dante squinted at the door while Carina looked less than impressed. If it wasn’t for her son sleeping over there, she’d blast her bloody husband through the door and give him a piece or two of her mind.

“Why does he even do that?” Dante asked Trish who gestured to all of herself. “...right. Mommy issues.”

“Not even anyone’s mommy here.” Trish pointed out. “I’m going to pour several drinks for everyone. Ta-ta!”

Trish stepped out of the hallway to dig up an alcohol beverage or twenty, leaving the other two adults in awkward silence. Dante broke the silence first by pointing out that the blood idea was silly, but not before Carina loudly pointed out that she was well aware that there was no such thing as vampires and she had already been well versed on properties of human blood and how demons reacted to it, thank you very much.

“Still, we aren’t dependent on that.” Dante said then stopped to think in mid-sentence. He never considered partaking in consuming blood as it was outside the realm of possibility. For goodness’ sake, he wasn’t a mindless animal. Though, the same couldn’t be said of his crabby twin on the other side of the door. At least Vergil stopped hissing once Trish left the hallway.

“I figured it was a good idea as any considering how your idiot brother loudly insisted that he was a devil and I should be afraid of him.”

“I feel like he’s afraid of you more than you are of him.”

“Probably not too far from the truth.” Carina rubbed her face. “Dante… could you do me a favor? Please don’t tell him about Nero. I want to do it myself, because knowing that idiot, he’ll probably assume I’ve moved on or something.”

“Got it.”

Trish handed each of them a shot of whiskey, watching them throw it back. “I still think it would have been easier for you to beat up a devil and turn him into a chainsaw.”

“...what.” Carina said in disbelief. “Hang on a second, what?”

“Uhhh, yeah, it’s kind of a thing. Beat up a strong devil and if he yields, he turns into a super fancy weapon. I’ve got a pair of annoying talking swords stuffed in the closet along with a lightning guitar that was once my dad’s ex girlfriend.”

“I’ll take your word for it. I need another shot please, Trish.”

“Obligated!”

After downing the second shot, Carina dragged Dante back into the bathroom, leaving the door open. Trish wisely stayed back far enough to catch any spare armor parts while the two worked on removing the remaining pieces. There was some considerable arguing over who got to hold down who if the black knight was to ever “wake up” all crabby. 

Meanwhile, the said knight in question mentally sighed. He didn’t understand what was going on, convinced that Mundus set up such an elaborate illustration. Despite his one moment of rebellion by breaking free of the mask just to fight his brother one more time, he was still in the throes of mental abuse. Hearing her voice confused him, didn’t he bury all of his memories deep down for a reason?

If this wasn’t a mental torture and he was back in the human world for real, surrounded by people he knew… how was he going to cope? Could he meet his wife’s eyes and beg for forgiveness? The knight already knew he didn’t deserve anything, having hit the bottom regarding self-loathing. Everything that he did was for nothing in the end.

“Hey, bro. I know you’re there.” Dante said. “Stop pretending to be asleep. I thought I lost you… not to mention you’ve got someone waiting for you.”

Finally, a movement from the knight who turned on his side, refusing to meet anyone’s gaze. He curled up in a tight ball, holding on the shredded remains of his clothing. Dante made a small “tch” sound before removing yet another power saw shrapnel from his torso. He gathered up the last pile of armor pieces, tossing one piece at a time to Trish.

“You gonna be okay if I leave you alone with him?”

Carina shot Dante a withering look. “I promise you that I won’t shoot him.”

“Shoot him with what--”

Vergil interrupted, “A shotgun.”

“Holy shit.” Carina said, staring back at the tub. “Okay, yeah, I think he should be manageable. Better grab a clean change of clothes.”

“Don’t think I’d have anything in his style.”

“Of course not.” Vergil scoffed. “Your style is loud.”

Dante would make a bigger deal of his twin finally uttering more words but he wised up and left the bathroom, locking the door behind him. Then the kid was in his face, making him yelp and drag Nero away from the hallway.

“What’s the big idea?!”

“Your mom’s just dealing with the monster in there.” Dante said, dodging the extra arms.

“But she left her shotgun by the couch!”

Dante noticed the shotgun lying against the couch, blinking. There was a small sigh as he deposited his surly nephew back on the couch. “Your mom will be fine...so she tells me.”

“But…” Nero began to protest but slumped, realizing that his uncle wasn’t going to budge. “Okay.”

\--

It felt good to use his voice for a change because he discovered that it no longer hurt to speak. However, he still sounded a little weak from not having spoken in such a long time. All he ever had were his painful thoughts to keep him company, good and bad-- more bad than good. The other devils were poor company except for the occasional feline shaped shadow who would lean on him for pets. Good kitty. (It especially pleased him in an odd way to watch the shadows spike Dante on sight.)

“You probably just need a hot bath.” Carina said, starting to peel away what clothing was left on his body.

He went stiff, grabbing her hands and shook his head. She frowned at him and he immediately understood that he had lost the argument, quietly surrendering. It was unspoken that she understood he went through something awful that he didn’t have words for yet. He moved around to make it easier for her to remove the rest.

“Don’t try to launder those, you can’t save them.”

Carina laughed, remembering that awful hobo robe. “I’ll see if I can find something in a similar style. For now, you’re going to have to put up with borrowing your brother’s clothes.”

“Ugh.”

“Can you even stand up for a shower or would you prefer a bath?”

“Bath.” He said, burying his face in his palm. “Is this real? Are you real?”

“What the hell did that bastard do to you?” She said out loud as she turned on the hot water, being careful with the temperature.

He lowered his head in shame, pressing his forehead to his arm to avoid looking at her again. What he could remember was that he lost the battle, had his sword shattered. Speared and bleeding until he was forced to submit as a battery for a new kind of weapon. He didn’t want to regale her with tales of being a mindless murder machine and the mental torture every time he tried to resist. Taunted with memories of his broken childhood and the haunting reality that he failed his promise.

No, he didn’t deserve her forgiveness.

“Vergil. If it’s too painful to talk about, it’s okay. Let’s just worry about getting back on your feet.”

That he could do, maybe. She stopped the water just where she wanted it in the tub. He glanced at her for a moment as she gently worked on cleaning his arms, methodically with a washcloth and some soap. Why was she still here with him? How many years passed by since he last saw her? It was not as if the concept of time existed for Hell or Mallet Island.

“It’s been ten years.” She said, still massaging his arm muscles as she cleaned. “Ten years since we last saw each other. I was mad when you left, but I understand now.”

“Don’t deserve your forgiveness.” He mumbled into his arm softly.

She silently worked on cleaning his limbs, trying to rub the stiffness out as best as she could. Methodical cleaning seemed to be on her mind as if she was trying to clean away the stains left behind by the hell he was in. The gray color tint seemed to fade a little bit with every cleaning she did as if magic was at work. She grabbed a bottle of shampoo, lathering up her hands as she went to work on his hair.

“Strawberry. Should’ve known…” Vergil grumbled once again. “I’m going to smell like strawberries for a week.”

“Better than smelling like an unwashed hobo.” She shot back, massaging his scalp.

He relaxed under her hands, finally no longer convinced that this was an elaborate torture. Mundus couldn’t even summon a perfect visage of Carina, what with her sass and tendicity to verbally smash the shit out of people. 

“I think we’re done now. How do you feel?”

“A little bit better. Thank you.”

She nodded and got off the floor, leaving the bathroom to hunt down that damn brother-in-law and the stack of clothing. Vergil slumped in the tub and leaned forwards to pull the drain. He watched the dirt water slowly fall, spiraling into the drain as if the horror was finally leaving him. No, the memories were still there, it’d just take time.

\--

“Dante! Clothes?” Carina stood in front of him, a hand out for something Dante should have delivered a few minutes ago.

“Mom? Why are you wet?”

“She was wrestling the dragon in the tub.” Trish answered, downing the whiskey bottle. Dante yelped with outrage, grabbing the bottle away from Trish.

“...you were washing a dragon?” Nero said, nose wrinkled.

Carina sighed loudly as she considered how to best answer that question. There was a quiet “yes” from her while Dante finally dug up a plain white t-shirt and a pair of PJ pants with pizza slices patterned all over them. She stared at the pants, speechless and wondered if the hobo robe was a better idea. Knowing Vergil, he would take the hobo robe over the goddamn PJ pants.

“Only thing I’ve got clean. Need to do laundry.”

Both Carina and Nero stared at Dante who cowered away in sheepish shame and fled to pick up his dirty laundry. Trish pointed out that she’d easily hold down the fort while Dante went to deal with his issues. Nero insisted on escorting his mom to the bathroom, still wanting to catch a glimpse of the fabled monster.

How the hell do you explain one to the other who had no idea about each other? Carina was wrestling with internal conflict. She knew her son needed his father badly but at the same time, how would Nero deal with seeing his father so damaged? Even worse, how would Vergil react to the idea? 

“Clothes.”

Carina opened the door, shooing Nero out of the way. The poor kid felt put out as he crossed his arms, sulking in front of the door. That voice didn’t sound like a monster but it was scratchy and rough sounding to him. He was pretty sure people were giving him nothing but bullshit and he was getting tired of it.

“I can dress myself.”

“Okay, then. Well, I’ll be leaving for the night. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

The door opened again with Nero being quickly whisked out of the hallway again. This was getting old, he complained to his mother. He tried to strain his head around to get a glance of a recently dressed, puzzled looking man with severely disheveled hair.

That was it? Just a man?

“Mom! There wasn’t anything scary in the bathroom at all!”

“Shh, Nero. We’ve gotta go home, it’s getting late.”

Vergil stared straight ahead and hobbled over to the couch once the front doors slammed shut. He resigned himself to letting what was left of his strength to give up, rendering him flat on his back. If that boy was her child, who was the father? His mind was too tired to figure out the obvious answer glaring at him.

Dante returned to the office about thirty minutes later and glanced around. Trish shrugged and pointed to the couch in which there was one twin who was busy counting dirt specks on the ceiling. He was counting somewhere north of a thousand and twenty. Dante made a mental note to clean the ceiling if only to stop the counting.

“He’s been like that since Carina left. No energy to even hiss at me.”

“Ah, shit.” Dante said, depositing his fresh pile of clean laundry on a chair. “Verge, I’ve got something for you.”

“Don’t want it.”

The younger twin rolled his eyes, pulled out a tub of chocolate ice cream and placed it on his brother’s stomach. A spoon suddenly was placed in his hand, leaving Vergil puzzled. He sat up, fiercely clutching the tub and dug in. There was a bit of spark in his eyes as he immediately devoured the chocolate ice cream.

“Don’t say I didn’t ever do anything for you, bro.”

He mumbled out a thank you so quiet that Dante had to strain his ears to hear it and he almost didn’t believe it. He dropped the empty tub on the floor and returned to lying down on the couch, stomach full and happy. Except he was still unhappy and confused emotionally.

“Talk to me.” Dante ordered.

“No.”

“Please?”

“Pass.”

And it went on like that for several weeks, Dante slowly being driven mad by watching his brother mope around the office. Sometimes, Vergil wandered to the desk whenever the phone rang, simply staring at it until someone answered. Other times, he’d just sit on the couch staring off in space surrounded by empty tubs of chocolate ice cream. Once, Dante caught his twin attempting to converse with a potted plant. Not even Trish sneaking around could get a rise out of Vergil. He just ignored her existence entirely, opting to stare off in space. He was never sure what the hell his twin was looking for.

“This is getting old, Dante.” Trish remarked. “I don’t know much longer I can take it babysitting a zombie.”

“...I’m calling her. Wonder what’s going o--”

The door slammed open, Carina hauling in several bags of things. Dante quickly put down the phone as Trish grinned. The half dead twin twitched slightly, still somewhere between non-communicative and semi awareness. Carina took a glance at her idiot husband before letting out an angry sound.

“Do I need to give you another bath?”

“I swear he showers.” Dante answered, checking over the bags which appeared to contain clothing that his twin favored. “Huh, you even remembered the measurements?”

“Considering how much time I spent naked with your brother…” Carina began before being interrupted by Vergil grabbing her unbandaged hand, dragging her out of the room. Mysteriously, it seemed that they were headed to the bathroom?

Dante didn’t know what was going on and he was pretty sure he didn’t want to find out either. He glanced at the bags again, shoveling them next to the couch which was more or less where his brother spent all of his time when not taking secret showers at two o'clock in the morning. It was clear to Dante that his twin was having considerable issues readjusting to human society. He also knew that he couldn’t keep Vergil hidden any longer at the office since the recent call from his other partner who would be more than happy to murder him.

Dante scratched his head. “Awww, hell.”

“Still thinking about that phone call? I’ll go keep her busy. I could do with some practice fighting… gotta see what your other partner’s made of.”

“I don’t need a cat fight on my hands, Trish.”

“We’ll see how it all works out! Toddles.”

Dante grunted in response to Trish leaving the office. He was also going to have to deal with one small Miss Patty Lowell too. Too many things on top of things he was already dealing with. Good help was hard to come by these days anyway… assuming they were in the mood to help out at all. The hair on Dante’s arms stood up immediately and he promptly exited his own office building without thinking.

He stared at the pile of paperwork in his hands. “Shit.”


End file.
